October 10, 2015

Sage celebrated his 12th birthday. Although Asher doesn't play video games often he certainly gets excited when he sees them.

Some water fun at Sage's birthday bash. Sage's friends played with Asher and included him in most activities. Such great junior high kids!

In the beginning of the sunny season we cram in all the outdoor things we love because we are hungry for some vitamin D after all the gray days!

We eat outside a lot.

We make a ton of smoothies.

We go to local beaches.

We have fires and make s'mores.

We paint with water and play other water games.

We celebrated Father's Day by taking a day trip to the beach.

When we arrived at the beach it was the annual Sand Castle Festival. This one was one of our favorite creations. Sage flew his kite as usual. There were so many kites in the sky we couldn't count them all and they dotted the sky endlessly. Xavier tagged along but with a broken toe healing he mostly sat and watched everyone.

In July we celebrated Xavier's 14th birthday.

My parents visited for a week and finally came during blueberry picking season. We had a lot of people blueberry picking and in 45 minutes we had 18 pounds of blueberries. The kids love doing this every year and eating them in the process too.

Sage and Haven were in theater camp this summer. Sage does very well commanding the stage.

We ventured outside as Xavier's broken toe healed. Hiking through the woods and arriving at a hidden beach is always such a joy for our family.

When my parents visited we went on a north west safari. It is an outdoor preserve with all native animals. An open air tram took us around on a dirt road and we were able to look at all the animals.

We traveled to Leavenworth in August for a week long family vacation. We had never taken the kids to central Washington and everyone loved exploring the mountains.

There were unique family diners the kids enjoyed.

We hiked various trails and found multiple water holes to visit throughout the week.

A couple days reached over 100 degrees and we would just wade in the water and throw rocks to cool off. The scenery was breathtaking.

We visited Lake Wenatchee and hiked an old growth trail to a hidden lake.

This was our favorite swimming hole on the river. The sun would shine and make the water look emerald green. The water level was so low there was a sandy beach to hang out on.

We played in sand, went swimming, rock jumping, fishing and Xavier brought his remote control boat. This place felt very special each visit.

We had fun family time at the cabin we rented playing with toys and playing board games.

We would take various trips into the local Bavarian town to eat local goodies.

One day we hiked along the shore of Lake Wentachee and every turn had more stunning views and nooks for the kids to explore.

More river and water hole fun.

We floated the river a couple times. Even Asher was able to go. The float took a couple hours and went for miles.

On our last day we went horse back riding at a state park. The big kids really enjoy this and Asher was able to go on a long ride with the whole family while siting with me.

When we got back from vacation Sage went on a vacation with his close friend to eastern Washington. He went fishing, learned how to drive boats and looked for fossils.

We had a mini family reunion with the northwest crew. My sis and her family from up north and my cousin and his family from south met up for a weekend at our place and just enjoyed the craze of all the cousins together. Baby Logan is crawling now. So big!

Sage and Asher were buds all summer long. Hanging out outside and playing board games. They spent a lot of time playing.

Story time in Asher's room with his big brother Sage. My adorable boys!

We had a long dry few months with little to no baking of goodies. The first rainy week we had the kids know the drill...let's make cookies!!! Asher likes dinosaurs right now so we made dinosaur shortbread. Yummy!

Paul's parents visited and as always the kids had a blast. Game time!!!

We also went to a family fun center and normally Asher has to watch the big kids drive go karts but this place had go karts for little guys too. He had the biggest smile driving that car.

Here are my oldest three on the first day of school. They were so happy they couldn't stand still for a picture. This is the best I was able to get. Sage and Haven are in 7th grade and Xavier is now in 8th grade.

We celebrated the end of summer with a trip to an island reserve west of Seattle called Blake Island. We took a ferry to the island early in the morning and had the boat to ourselves. What a treat.

We hiked the trails on the island that allow you to walk the entire island. Arriving at the beach this was our view.

The tide was low during our visit and raccoons were foraging in the water. So cool!

After our hike we visited the native american village for a salmon feast and dance show.

The room was super smokey from the salmon cooking. This turned out to be some the best salmon any of us had ever had.

Good bye summer.

We're looking forward for fall and all the fun the holidays have in store for our family.